Atheist Richard Dawkins Suggests Faith is at Root of World's Evil

An outspoken atheist claims religion is at the root violence around the world.

Best-selling author and atheist Richard Dawkins contends the recent Pakistan school massacre and others like it are motivated by organized religion, according to Christian Today.

On Wednesday Dawkins tweeted, "Mental illness can drive a lone nutter to it. But an organised group needs an extreme motivation— faith, in something like a god or Nazism."

Another noted atheist also chimed in the conversation. Sam Harris wrote in a blog that he longs for the day people aren’t influenced by religious belief systems.

"Which will come first, flying cars and vacations to Mars, or a simple acknowledgment that beliefs guide behaviour and that certain religious ideas—jihad, martyrdom, blasphemy, apostasy—reliably lead to oppression and murder?"

Michael Shermer, founder of the Skeptics Society, joined the chorus of dissenting atheist voices as well.